PHET
Fluid Pressure and Flow
This simulation begins with an exploration of water pressure and atmospheric pressure. In the flow portion, scholars reshape a pipe and see fluid dynamics at work. The water tower portion encourages pupils to determine how water...
Teach Engineering
Magnetic Fluids
Teams work as material engineers to create ferrofluids, whose shape is influenced by magnetic fields. The activity, which is the fourth in the six-part series, has the teams create magnetic ink and use it to write, testing it with a...
Anglophone School District
Fluids: Force in Fluids
Discuss Archimedes' Principle and fluid forces with your young scientists as they describe the relationship between mass, volume, and density during a series of engaging activities. They use the Participle Theory of Matter to explore the...
Curated OER
Wind, What Causes It?
Students explore what causes wind, why wind behaves as it does, early cultural beliefs about wind, high and low pressure systems, basic fluid dynamics, units of measurement for wind, and how lift is caused; students create and fly kites.
Curated OER
Floating and Falling Flows
Students discover fluid dynamics related to buoyancy through experimentation and optional photography. Using one set of fluids, they make light fluids rise through denser fluids. Using another set, they make dense fluids sink through a...
eGFI
Tippy Tap Hand Washer
High school physics or engineering classes construct a system for piping water from a storage tank to a water dispenser. They will apply Bernoulli's principle and perform calculations for elevation, pressure, and velocity. This is a...
Curated OER
Thermo and Fluid Dynamics of a Homemade "Lava Lamp"
High schoolers construct their own lava lamp using simple substances. In this physics lesson, students explain how difference in density causes convection. They solve for forces and buoyancy using mathematical equations.
Teach Engineering
Tippy Tap Plus Piping
Getting water to a tap requires an understanding the fundamentals of fluid flow. Groups design, build, and test a piping system to get water from the source — a five gallon bucket — to a tippy tap. The objective is to be able to fill...
Curated OER
Lesson: Hovercraft Racers
Now, this lesson plan would be a blast! When your engineering or physics class is examining the reduction of friction or fluid dynamics, you can have them make these hovercraft racers. Using a balloon, a bottle cap, and a compact disc,...
Teach Engineering
Archimedes' Principle, Pascal's Law and Bernoulli's Principle
What do Pascal's law, Archimedes' Principle, and Bernoulli's Principle have to do with fluid mechanics? The included PowerPoint presentation provides the basic definitions and equations associated with the three. A set of homework...
Exploratorium
Bernoulli Levitator
Two versions of this activity are presented for you to choose from when teaching about Bernoulli's principle in your physical science class. One is a hands-on activity, while the other would be best used as a demonstration during...
Curated OER
NUMB3RS Activity: Riding the Waves
High schoolers use the TI-Navigator system to explore vector fields and make predictions. They also identify what a vector field is and that it represents the movement of water. Pupils try to determine where a bottle floating might have...
Curated OER
Non-Newtonian Fluids
Young scholars will use water, cornstarch, eggs, and more to explore the different states of matter. They will make observations of an unknown substance called "Oobleck" and test its liquid and solid properties. This would be a great...
Curated OER
Wave Math
Students identify the different factors affecting the size and shape of ocean waves. In this math instructional activity, students calculate wave speed and wavelength given a mathematical formula.
Curated OER
PhysioEx: Cardiovascular Dynamics
In this anatomy worksheet, students complete 10 fill in the blank questions about an online physiology of circulation virtual experiment.
Teach Engineering
A Shot Under Pressure
You've got to pump it up! Using the equations for projectile motion and Bernoulli's Principle, class members calculate the water pressure in a water gun. The pupils collect data on the number of pumps and distance traveled in order to...
Curated OER
Chapter 8: Introduction to Economic Growth and Instability
Help your young economists put the current financial situation into context with this fluid and informative presentation. Complete with a thorough list of key terms at the end and a useful navigation tool on each slide, the presentation...
Rice University
College Physics for AP® Courses
Take a look at an organized physics course. The 34-section electronic textbook covers material in AP® Physics 1 and 2. Teachers use the text to supplement lectures and have the class work through the labs. Each section contains multiple...
Curated OER
Air and Water Pressure
Students examine buoyancy and fluid pressure. They conduct a series of fun experiments to discover the effects of pressure and explore how pressure differences can be used to float, lift, transport, or hold a material in place.
Curated OER
NUMB3RS Activity: Where’s the Source? Episode: “Undercurrents”
Several real-world problems are posed as a way to learn about vector fields in order to make some predictions after analyzing the data. The main problem comes from the tv show NUMB3RS and is based on solving a crime where a body has...
Kenan Fellows
Using Motion Sensors to Explore Graph Sketching
Get moving to a better understanding of graphs of derivatives. Using motion sensors, scholars vary their velocities to create graphs of the first derivative of a function. The activity challenges groups to first create a script of the...
Kenan Fellows
Man vs. Beast: Approximating Derivatives using Human and Animal Movement
What does dropping a ball look like as a graph? An engaging activity asks learners to record a video of dropping a ball and uploading the video to software for analysis. They compare the position of the ball to time and calculate the...
NASA
Newton’s Cool in the Pool
Pupils work together to investigate the cooling of NASA’s Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory. Using data collected as the pool cooled, groups determine the values needed in Newton's Law of Cooling equation to model the situation. They...
NASA
The NBL Pool
That is a lot of water. Class groups explore the size of the NASA's Neutral Buoyancy Pool and calculate the volume of water needed to fill it. They then compare that volume to the amount of water needed to fill a pool the size of a...